Battle at Bonelli!

Yesterday saw the conclusion to the 2009 US Cup series at Bonelli Park in San Dimas. It didn't seem like there was much in the way of East/West unification, but I know that there were some good battles in many of the categories anyway! In addition to battling each other, the racers had to battle some crazy heat. It was, literally, Sea Otter hot out there yesterday.

Saturday morning Justin and I got up and headed north to pre-ride the course and get out on the bikes again after their full rebuild (courtesy of Justin!) to make sure they were running A-ok. Beth and James met us for the laps before Beth set out on a big training day (4-5 hours on the bike and a T-run post-ride!) and James hit up the 3/4 CX race (So Cal Cross opener). The course looked like a blast! Lucky for me, as much fun as it seemed like it was, I'm glad I had no desire to strap on a number and hit up the race! The ladies were killing it, though. Had a great time cheering for them as I sat in the shade.





We got home and Justin cooked up some bomb breakfast burritos for us.

Uh.. I think we're gonna need a bigger "boat"



We lounged around a bit, then Justin went to work dusting off the bikes, and I did pre-race prep. 16 bottles. We managed to make it home with 10.



Sunday we slept in, which was good for me since I thought I was coming down with a cold (Justin thinks I have swine flu - kidding!). The extra sleep was awesome for me, cause I've been having some insomnia lately. We got out to Bonelli early anyway (before the Cat 2/3 starts in the morning), picked up our number plates and goodies, and did some socializing.

Some of the fast ladies out and about!



Me, Lisa, Dorothy Wong, Tonya, Heidi, and Joy. Lisa is great. She raced CX on Saturday, then did both XC and Super D on Sunday. I was totally stoked she won her category yesterday, and got selected to be "in the money" for winning!!

Eventually we took our cooler with bottles, extra wheels, and a pump up to the feed zone just in case! Then we sat around and ate some food and got dressed for the race. It felt way hotter on Sunday than it had on Saturday. Was great to catch up with Heidi V and Joy, and watch some of the early racers on course.

Justin and I started our warm-up after suiting up, and it was just hot out. The breeze wasn't doing much for us. I actually remember thinking as I grabbed my race bottle and finished prepping for the start that I thought I was dehydrated. Was I smart enough to do something about it? Um, no.

We lined up on the super hot pavement, trying to find an ounce of shade, and took off about two minutes after the Pro Men. Surprisingly enough, none of us attacked off the line. It was actually a very benign race start. Once we hit the dirt we all put in a much bigger effort, but no one wanted to seem to take the lead. I led out the first climb, but Krista was right on me and put in a small attack on a flat section. I stuck to her wheel. We hit some fluff in a sharp turn, and I put in a pass shortly after. I managed an attack and pulled a bit of a gap on the early climbs. I wasn't paying much attention, but coming around near the end of the lap Krista had easily closed the gap on me, and I was not feeling all that stellar anymore.

I led coming in for lap 1, but she was right behind me heading into the feedzone. HUGE THANK YOU to Carolyn and Don from the Sho-Air team for the awesome feedzone support. Don was doing water down the back as we went by, and Carolyn was handing off bottles.

Krista fell back just a tad, but was always right there. I'd pull a small gap, and she'd be closing it down. Lap 2 I started to shut down. Physically my legs and lungs felt fine, but my HR was sky high. When I started to notice goosebumps I slowed down. My HR didn't recover, but I felt like I was crawling. I said to myself, "If Krista passes, just hold her wheel until you can't." I had no idea what she was going through, but she didn’t put in an attack. I kept waiting for it, but it didn't come. When she did catch up, she held fast to my wheel. After the singletrack descent on lap 2 I saw that she was right back on me, and so was Justin. I kept waiting for Justin to pass, but he didn't. I knew someone was on my wheel, and as slow as I was moving, I kept wondering why they weren't passing. I realized it was Krista and not Justin. Once we got to the flats he came around, and Krista and I were unsure as to who was going to grab his wheel. She latched on to Justin, and I latched on to her. He pulled on the flats, but near the top of a little rise sat up and said he was blown.

I honestly almost broke. He had been feeling so good and ready to go, so I was super disappointed for him. I wanted to sit up and just ride with him to the finish. Instead I dug deep and caught back on to Krista's wheel and we went back and forth the entire rest of the lap. She passed just before the straight run in to the finish line, and led us out for lap 3.

I had no idea how she was feeling, and as much as I kept wanting to go, "Are you feeling as horrible as I am?" I didn't. Actually, I only felt like I was getting heat stroke. My legs were fine, and my RPE was surprisingly moderate throughout the race. Mentally I was struggling to keep moving at times, and other times felt really strong and ready to keep on trucking.

I pulled a small gap again on the early hills of lap 3, but Krista was always right there just half a turn away. I did what I could. She passed me, I think, and led out the singletrack descent this time. She got off line and bobbled, and I was like, "Nice save!" I have no idea how she pulled it out! I sat on her wheel on the rollers that followed more because I had nothing with which to attack than because I felt like playing tactics. I knew this was going to be a battle to the finish. I couldn't put in an attack this early on and make it stick, and she hadn't been able to do that either. It was going to come down to a sprint on the last hill or the finish turn/line.

She had gone into the fluff and I had gotten off line on lap 2 before a tight turn onto a steep climb. I pulled in front this time and put in a mini-attack. She kept on me, so I stopped making the effort any harder than it needed to be. I heard her gears going. Then I heard the chain drop. I looked back just for an instant to see her off the bike. I knew this was my shot, so I put in a massive TT on the flat pavement and up the next hill, down the steep descent, on the paved flat again, almost got head-on'd by a car?! driving on the course, and kept pushing to the finish line. I kept talking to my body, "I need you to do this for the next 5 minutes. You cannot let up. 5 minutes. Just hold on for 5 more minutes and I'll give you whatever you want." My body obliged, though not without a lot of suffering and pain, and I pulled through for the win.

It was a hard fought battle, and one I thoroughly enjoyed. Krista is a great competitor and racer, and I think despite the heat slowing us down a little, we both had a stellar race.



She took the series overall. We got these massive trophies to take home! It was awesome. The only thing that comes close is the marble slab from Idyllwild Spring Challenge!



Joy and I hefting our respective trophies



The goods



We had to stop to pick up some coffee creamer for today, and I had somewhat kept myself motivated with red wine of all things… Hmm…which shall I drink first?



I had some food, some water, and settled on the Porter. It seemed fitting.



Great weekend, great racing. Thanks so much to Sho-Air and Team Big Bear for the race series! Can't wait for next year.

Call to Arms?

Ladies!

...and gentlemen.

I have a general question, and it isn't aimed at anyone, I'm honestly just curious. Why don't people pre-register for races? I know *some* people do, but a lot of people don't. Especially mountain bikers. Luke today said it was because of money. So, I guess if you are on the fence about a race and you don't have a lot of money you are saving it to see if you actually want to race? What if you *know* you are doing a race? Does it save money to register on site?

Maybe it saves money. I don't think it does, unless there are online registration fees, and no late fee for registering at the site.

Is it so you aren't "marked"? I know I did a race report last fall where half the people in my category didn't get their legs marked or pre-register. I doubt it was related to money! So, what is the reasoning here?

I do understand timing issues, money issues, etc., but a lot of people seem to not pre-register for other reasons that I don't understand. So, if you are one of those people that waits and registers on site... what's your real reasoning??

If you're going to race either way, sign up ahead of time! I'm guessing it saves some time and effort on the part of the race promoter, staff, and volunteers. That's a lot of info to type in on race day, especially at the larger events.

Guess it is a good thing the field isn't limited like at Downieville, huh?

Anyway, if you're on the fence about the first installment of the US Cup Pro XC Tour at Fontana next weekend (March 28-29) - sign up now! It's going to be bigger than Bonelli, and a lot of fun. Donny at SRC runs some great races, and with Sho-Air doing the series and promotion this year, it should go off with a bang!

Check out the series info to register!

Ladies in particular! Let's show our support for racing and get out there.

Time's fun when you're flying…

Back-up title: If I knew then what I know now…

I spend quite a bit of time in a quandry as to where I belong in the racing world. I feel like at local races I am sandbagging, but it is often mentioned to me that these aren't "national level" races, and the competition is a lot better on the bigger stage. I don't have delusions of grandeur thinking I can hold onto Georgia's wheel any time soon (first off, she's probably been racing Pro longer than I've been riding a bicycle), but I also don't feel that good not giving any of the "local" Cat 1 racers a chance at the top step of the podium.

USAC feels that I don't belong in the Pro category, and since their site has been down all day, I can't check on any updated racing info (and I heard over the weekend they changed a few things?).

If I knew in late 2007, or beginning of 2008, that I'd be this serious about racing, I would've upgraded to Cat 1 (nee Expert) following Fontana last year. I would've gotten my butt handed to me at quite a few Expert races last spring, but I would've learned something. I had no idea. I didn't know I should've been moving toward something else. No one told me I was wasting my time. USAC didn't mind that I was winning most of my races, and podiuming the others.

I upgraded a bit too late last summer, so only had half a handful of results that went to USAC, and they were all for really local events. My result from the CA State race is a bit skewed, since I got a flat tire (tire glued to the rim = long tire change). I was 3-4 minutes up on my field and felt great. That's racing. I set my sights on not having a DNF for the race, and accomplished that.

Either way, I am where I am right now, and have a decision to make.

Now, let's back up.

I knew I wanted my nutrition to be stellar leading up to the race since we'd be basically training through. Saturday we were hoping for 3.5-4 hours, so I wanted to have the tanks topped off after a slow week, nutritionally and ride-wise.

Dinner Friday night - yellow sweet potatoes, chicken, and Trader Joes' Brown Rice Medley (super bomb stuff)



Since I mentioned it last week, I thought I'd get some shots of my new oatmeal concoction. I'd eat it more often if it wasn't so loaded!!





While we were packing stuff up I figured I'd shoot for some extra protein in my weekend diet, and I threw together some berry protein shakes for us for after the ride. I need to find a way to make them more liquid and less solid, but they're pretty good.



The taste of the protein powder is fairly overwhelming whether I have yogurt or not (Sunday I didn't have yogurt in there - it was thicker than it had been WITH it, also). Guess I'll have to live with that!

Not too long after we started the drive up north to pre-ride the course a few times!

Justin took some shots of my new bling



Mentally preparing for the start!



Preride shots







Luke











We got in 4 laps. One was race-pace, and the other 3 were mostly SST. I was super worked after the ride, and easily downed my protein shake and some water, then we went to check in and pick up our race packets.

I didn't really look in the bag until we got home, but we got hooked up! A ton of swag!



Cool number plates, free t-shirt, free water bottle (event "personalized"), a bottle of H20 Overdrive, sample of Rapidade (I've never tried it), sample of E2 Hydro (looking forward to trying this one), Gu pack, KMC power-link type deal, and coupons for Rock N Road and ESI Grips.

Figured I'd try out the H20 Overdrive post-race since it's 3:1 carbs:protein.

We both spent too much time on our feet (Justin prepping bikes, and me prepping food, drink, and clothing), but since I was having some pain and discomfort behind my knee Justin had me sit with my feet elevated (laying down) and had me take 4 Ibuprofen. I couldn't feel my feet after 20 minutes, so got up to shower and hit the foam roller.

I had half a cup of Kashi Go-Lean (non crunch) in some milk and went to bed.

Got up Sunday morning after a fairly poor night's sleep (I spoke too soon - the upstairs neighbors have spent the last 3 nights making noise), made some more oatmeal and got together post-race PB&J bagels and the berry protein shakes, along with coffee!

We packed up and headed north with Luke.

We were there plenty early, but we got a pretty primo spot. We hung out and chatted with James, Eric, Ryan, Herber, Jason Ranoa, and the Fletcher's, and eventually Justin and I headed over to the start to watch the Cat 2's take off! It was really warm already, and not even 11 am yet.





Once it got close to 11 we went back to hydrate, have some food, and get changed into race clothes for the warm-up. I did a fairly long warm-up, but spent a good amount of time spinning the legs out, and did a few hard efforts to get the body really warm and ready to go. It was seriously hot out.

Added a few new stickers!





Luke thinks it looks like a NASCAR body!

Slater got this shot of Justin and I warming up



I told Justin good luck and we both lined up in our respective locations. The Pro's took off, and shortly after the Cat 1 men were out of site. It was hot standing in the line, but no worries. We were moved along really quickly, and I think started some time around 12:50. I sort of lined up wrong - I wound up behind someone who wasn't on it when the women started, and then my gearing was a tad off. I worked pretty hard to bridge from the last 3rd of the pack up to the front half. I had no idea whose wheel to grab, but we were all jostling for position on the early climb.

I held on one wheel, went around, held another, went around, held another, went around, soon I only saw Melanie McQuaid and Krista Park in front of me, and we started to pass some of the older Cat 1 men. What!

I continued to hold Krista's wheel where I could, and she and I traded spots for most of the 1st lap. She gapped me a bit in the transition, and I managed to catch back up by the time we hit the feed station. I hit the lap button late, and up we climbed, trading spots here and there.

Lap 2 it got really hot. I had little desire to drink my Cytomax, but continued to take it in anyway since I knew I needed the fluids. This one bottle cage situation is less than ideal, so for hot races this summer I think I'll be trying a weaker mix.

Krista started to pull away a little more than halfway through the lap. I could've dug deeper and held on, but it wasn't really necessary, and my legs were begging for mercy. I sort of wish I would've gone and done a 3rd lap anyway, to see if I could've held off 3rd in the Pro field, but since I wouldn't have been "racing", I'm not sure it would've done me any good. I pulled off after my obligatory 2 laps, and spun around for awhile, after grabbing some ice cold WATER!

Had a good time cooling down with Rachel and Heidi and chatting about the race and stuff. I managed to make it back to the finish line area and catch Justin coming through! He finished 8th out of 24 in his first Cat 1 race, despite cramping up for most of lap 3! Way to start out the season!

We both had a killer day of racing. Sho-Air has definitely breathed some good life into the US racing scene and I'm really looking forward to Fontana later this month!



Since I shoved so much food in my mouth after the race (lots of water, H20 Overdrive, berry protein shake, PB&J bagel, half an In & Out burger - my first taste since 4/04, no joke) I wasn't even hungry until about 8 last night. I enjoyed some "victory cereal" and a small bit of pasta and olive oil.

I slept poorly again last night, but the legs are feeling good and physically and mentally I'm ready to hit the tarmac for some hard intervals this week. No matter what category I'm in come later this month and year, I've got to be ready to hit it and do my best.

This training thing really pays off.


Next up - more food info, and list of stuff I liked.